Teenage alcoholism is a progressive debilitating disease by youth and young adults between the ages of 12 and 20. Alcohol dependency, no matter whether the person is a teenage or an adult, is characterized by the following four key features:
· Physical dependence – experiencing withdrawal symptoms, such as excessive sweating, nausea, headaches, or the shakes after quitting drinking.
· Tolerance - the need to drink increasingly more amounts of alcohol in order to get a “buzz” or to get “high.”
· Loss of control – the inability to quit drinking once the individual has begun drinking.
· Craving - a strong urge or compulsion to drink.
teenage alcohol dependency
Alcohol is a drug, as surely as cocaine and marijuana are, and for many of our country’s adolescents, alcohol is the number one drug of choice.
In fact, youth use alcohol more frequently and more heavily than all other illicit drugs put together. While some parents may feel relieved that their youth is “only” drinking, it is critical to note that alcohol is a strong, mood-altering drug.
In a recent study from the National Institute of Health (NIH), it was shown that 47% of people who began drinking before the age of 14 developed an alcohol addiction. The significance of this statistic becomes more clear when it is highlighted that only 9% of the people who started drinking at the age of 21 or older became alcohol dependent.
Although some youth report it is easier to get illegal drugs than to purchase alcohol, the overall social acceptability of alcohol and the pervasive advertising that creates a positive and rewarding experience many times leads both youth and their parents to see drinking as simply a rite of passage with little danger in the future.
destructive results
The following represents some of the negative consequences of teen hazardous drinking or alcohol dependence:
· A recent study demonstrated that social networking among youth is a main component in the spread of binge drinking, a situation that is associated with major anti-social and criminal behavior.
· Lack of concentration in school: This frequently leads to bad grades or dropping out of school, something that will affect the quality of employment an individual can get as well as their view of the world.
· It has been estimated that more than three million youth are alcoholics. Moreover, several million more youth abuse alcohol to such an extent that they cannot manage their drinking behavior on their own.
· Alcohol use interacts with conditions such as depression and anxiety to contribute to suicide, the third leading cause of death among people between the ages of 14 and 25. In one study, for example, 37 percent of eighth grade females who drank in a hazardous way reported attempting suicide, compared with 11 percent of the females who did not drink.
· The three leading causes of death for 15 to 24-year-olds are suicides, homicides, and automobile crashes. It can be noted that alcohol consumption is a leading factor in all three of these causes of death.
· Youth who drink are more likely than others to be victims of violent crime, including rape, aggravated assault, and robbery.
· Significant brain development continues through the teenage years. A recent study by the National Institute of Health presents the first concrete evidence that protracted, heavy alcohol use can impair brain functioning in youth, causing irreversible injury in a number of circumstances.
· Teenagers who engage in drinking alcohol are more likely to become sexually active at earlier ages, to have sexual intercourse more at an increased rate and to have unprotected sex more than youth who do not drink.
· Underage drinking by people under the age of 21 is correlated with more than 5,000 deaths on an annual basis.
· Drinking in excess can lead to the use of other drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, or heroin.
· Recent research findings strongly suggest that efforts to control teen alcohol ingestion should focus less on prevention of initiation or experimental use and more on prevention of misuse or abuse.
reckless drinking
Instead of trying to stop all teen alcohol consumption (after all, alcohol is something that is almost universally done by American adolescents), prevention efforts might more profitably focus on alcohol abuse, especially in connection with adolescents’ tendency to drink with acquaintances and with friends. And a special emphasis should be made on the most prevalent forms of dicey drinking behavior such as binge drinking, driving while intoxicated, and drinking while engaging in illicit drug use.
To ensure ongoing cutbacks in teen drinking, more forceful parental, community, and societal efforts to reinforce prevention messages are clearly needed. Such efforts could range from closer parental supervision of teens’ parties to combating media images that associate drinking with popularity, high status, good times, and glamor.
The message is obvious: alcohol use is very chancy for youth. The longer adolescents delay alcohol use, additionally, the less likely they are to develop any problems that are correlated with alcohol abuse or alcoholism.
